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Why I can't stand "Duck Dynasty"

First the disclaimer: I don't watch the show. But I've seen enough of it to know I can't stand it.

My wife has been telling me for a while that the Robertson clan are a homophobic and misogynistic lot, especially the father, Phil, the "Duck Commander" himself. I guess that cat is out of the bag now.

Big surprise.

Anyway, even without all that (and the incredibly disgusting reaction), I was out. Why? Because this show celebrates ignorance and stupidity. These clowns aren't stupid, nor ignorant (save for some obvious areas). They have college degrees. They themselves are the "elites" they so despise as Huff Post notes:

While there is nothing sinister about succeeding in business, this is not any rags to riches story of everyday familiar "bumpkins" benefiting from the perceived enhanced mobility of American society. It is a well planned out, and relatively rare group of astute individuals who have achieved uncommon financial success.

But rather than presenting a true picture of how hard work, education, and business savvy can be roads to success, the show instead glorifies poor language skills, ignorance, laziness, and poverty, crafting a contrived story of "common folk" making it big through implied dumb luck. It's all bullshit and it's insulting. The right-wing, Tea-Party, and backwoods Confederates who love the show are the people who should really be offended. The Robertsons are mocking them, much in the same way that Dan Whitney ("Larry the Cable Guy") wasn’t actually trying to appeal to rednecks, but to mock them.

Obviously, portraying the real story of a college educated millionaire chief executive of a multi-million dollar corporation is not the way to make a reality show - not if you want ratings.